Re-Decking a Phantom

Hi Dan, I'm fairly sure someone in the classics forum has done this recently, if not try the class association site.

I am just off to resurrect the Phantom Menace...

Redecking is one of the best and most straightforward "first serious" boat jobs... Its easiest if you are going to replace the outer gunwhales at the same time, and although it costs a bit more in timber to do that it also makes for a much more satisfying job because it all looks so bright and new...

The lazy man's alternative is to glue the ply over the gunwhales, which isn't as pretty and leaves the ply edge exposed. Doing that you take the existing gunwhales down flush with the deck beams.

What I don't like to do is to try and preserve the existing gunwhales, because you need to cut the ply precisely to fit, and its hassle hassle hassle.

Basically rip off the old decks, then with a surform and decent chisel get all the old glue and remaining plywood off, finish by sanding smooth for a decent new gluing surface. Cut ply roughly to shape with a few inches all round. Apply thickened epoxy, staple ply down to the deck beams with a staple gun. When cured remove staples, fill staple holes and attach new gunwhales. Now varnish, stand back and admire with joyous feeling of achievement!

Getting a really nice varnish finish might be the most difficult bit - at least for me. Too much carbon dust in my garage!



Edited by JimC

One of these...



Could try your mums cheese grater if you're feeling brave. I assume you do still live at home to have access to the cooking utensils to have such a number of boats!

a Surform is a kind of planing tool I guess...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=surform&meta=&aq=f&oq =

Timber for gunwhales... Umm, it depends I think, I am not your most aesthetic of builders, and tend to pick whatever is both cheap and light. Pine (white), maybe with a mahogany capping (red) I guess... No doubt there are plenty of alternatives, and proper wood boat builders can ship in now!

Excuse my hi-jacking Dan. Seemed pointless to start a new thread. We have an enterprise sat at the bottom of the boat park. It has a hole in the floor and a hole in the side (just forewards of the starboard shroud). Other than these the wood looks good (although some water damage). How hard would this be to repair in order to get another boat on the water for the club. Im reasonably competent with tools and woodworking etc but never done anything on wooden boats.

Cheers tom